COMO, Italy — June 27, 2016 — Kiian Digital’s Digistar HI-PRO series was recently awarded Nike’s Restricted Substance Lists (RSL) Certification. Marco Girola, Marketing Specialist, Kiian Digital, shares his thoughts on what this achievement means for Kiian Digital, its customers and how this reflects a current trend for the textile industry to be more environmentally conscious.

What does it mean to be on the Nike’s RSL for Kiian Digital? What particular substances needed to be restricted to be awarded RSL?

As the world’s largest manufacturer of athletic footwear and apparel, producing over 900,000 products a year, Nike aims to eliminate hazardous chemicals throughout its production chain. Its RSL requires that every Nike-branded product, adheres to its sustainability commitment. This demands that its suppliers evaluate their chemical impact and incorporate less polluted manufacturing processes that comply with a comprehensive list of chemical standards. In terms of sublimation inks, these are subject to annual tests to ascertain the absence of a number of chemicals including, organotins, PVC and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs).

For us, being Nike RSL accredited is a great commendation to our continued commitment to a sustainable business approach, not only for us as an ink manufacturer, but also in providing solutions that allow our customers to offer more environmentally acceptable products. With our advanced portfolio, which comprises of water-based inks that allow for increased productivity while reducing waste, and our expansive chain of regional dealers; we embrace a business model of printing locally thereby, potentially eliminating the need for global shipping and further reducing our carbon footprint.

We also ensure that all of our ranges exclude or reduce hazardous chemicals. As demonstrated by this recent Nike certification, our approach not only provides a fantastic range of benefits to the printing companies and the end user; it also opens the door to us integrating our eco-friendly inks within Nike’s extensive supply chain through its existing print suppliers.

Are Nike’s RSL Certification requirements typical of brands in the textile industry? Does this process reflect a current trend to be more environmentally conscious?

Yes, brands today are very conscious of the impact their supply chains have on the environment. This increased sense of responsibility comes from the companies directly but also from consumer pressure, as the public has become much more aware of the way the products they buy are made and sourced.

It is also the manufacturers’ responsibility to offer sustainable solutions. This has been Kiian Digital’s policy for many years as a brand that cares about its own carbon footprint, as well as having a product range that can provide added benefits to its customers.

What are the features of the Digistar HI-PRO series that made it suitable to put forward for this certification?

The product series we put forward for the Nike certification needed to not only meet all of their environmental criteria, but also provide the quality necessary to meet Nike’s exacting standards.

Thanks to its vast gamut of striking colour, the Digistar HI-PRO series is a great sublimation solution in the production of supreme-quality high-fashion apparel, endurance sportswear, equipment, producing. In terms of textile applications, the Digistar HI-PRO range offers supreme image quality and is quick-drying, perfect in the production of final applications, including sportswear.

Following our recent Nike RSL accreditation, the Digistar HI-PRO series arms customers with the ability to perfect designs early, as these approved products do not require additional testing. This not only directly decreasing their developmental cost, it also significantly accelerates the products’ time-to-market and allows more goods to be produced in a shorter turnaround time.

Sold in around 90 countries worldwide, the Digistar HI-PRO range is our bestselling product offering a host of benefits to printing companies and end-users including its complete compatibility with the full portfolio of Epson printheads – the most widely used on the market.

Specifically designed for synthetic fabrics and uncoated and coated rigid substrates, the Digistar HI-PRO series provides high colour concentration particularly on coated and uncoated paper. Customers printing on uncoated paper, can enjoy long-lasting vivid brightness of the inks while print manufacturers of coated paper can utilise reduced ink consumption compared to competing inks. This allows the cartridge to span a higher number of print runs resulting in greater workflow and cost efficiencies. Available in 1, 2.5 and 5 litre bottles, we supply inks for small to large jobs.

Offering rapid system set-up, less downtime and increased quality, our inks provide our customers with lower production costs and increased margins. This generates sustainable value for businesses that are looking to invest in digital production.

What opportunities does this certification provide to your customers?

Nike’s RSL criteria advises that once a supplier’s product is certified this product can be used throughout all Nike-branded product.

In regards to applications that can be produced using the Digistar HI-PRO range this is virtually endless, whether it be a t-shirt, a pair of trainers as long as the material consists of a minimum of 70% polyester.

This opens up some fantastic new business opportunities for our customers. It should also give them a further USP when talking to other brands and end-users about the inks they use and how they meet the stringent environmental criteria for one of the world’s most high-profile brands.

With our advanced R&D department, we are continually working with our customers to find the best printing solution that meets their requirements or adapting our inks to comply with certain accreditations.

Existing Nike suppliers can have the confidence that our Digistar HI-PRO range fully complies with Nike’s rigorous RSL and as such, we can guarantee that all the prints conform with the company’s RSL requirements and will not require additional testing further-down the production line. This ensures that Nike printing suppliers can enjoy greater cost efficiencies and increased turnaround times.

What’s next for Kiian Digital? Do you plan to certify any additional inks to comply with Nike’s RSL?

As one of the leading digital inks manufacturers, our vast portfolio has a host of accreditations. These include the Digistar HI-PRO series as well as many of our other ink series being certified including securing the Adidas A-01, OEKO-TEX® Standard 100, Clear to Wear and Safe to Wear authorisations.

Working together with companies such as Nike, we are continually looking at how to enhance our inks and ensure that they meet companies’ specific criteria, as well as the wider market demands. As such, if we believe the market has a demand for a particular ink series we will of course consider licencing these with the relevant certification.